Last fall a client called us, wanting to create a Celebration Book for his father’s upcoming 90th birthday. The book was to be a surprise, handed out at the party to all invited. Our client, J., and his brothers worked together to write introductions for a decade-by-decade account of their father’s distinguished career. They gathered photos, newspaper clippings, legal documents, and other ephemera to create a beautiful tribute to their father, whom they also described as a consummate family man.
At every step, this client was a dream to work with. He was meticulous in organizing and submitting materials, and he was clear about his expectations of us. One point he made early on was that the book absolutely had to be completed and delivered in advance of the springtime birthday celebration the family was planning for their father. It was to be a centerpiece of the occasion, a show-stopper of a gift, an enduring expression of love and admiration for their dad.
We worked arduously to design the book they envisioned, coming up with a spacious design, enhancing old, blurry photographs, offering high-quality paper and cover materials, and choosing a sturdy, long-lasting binding. The cherry on top was a custom foil stamp for the front cover that we designed, based on their father’s official work badge.
We managed to beat the deadline, with a month to spare, and the books were delivered and hidden away by a family member until the party. But sadly, J. and his family had to cancel the party they’d been planning, due to the COVID19 crisis. They instead convened via video conference to mark their father’s birthday. Imagine their father’s astonishment as he was presented with the boxes of books. Family members across the country watched him unwrap his copy and then listened as his sons took turns reading aloud from the words they’d written together in his honor. Our client told us his dad was deeply moved, and that it was a “great success.”
Have you heard the old line, “The most important things in life aren’t things?” It’s true that books are things, but their importance resides in the fact that they hold so much more than pages with words and pictures. That’s especially true of the sorts of books we help our clients create. They hold memories and stories, history and emotion. They are tangible representations of the connections we all hold dear, across time and across the miles. We feel honored every single day to do the important work of helping people and families share and preserve their stories, and to connect deeply even in times when we cannot be with one another.
